North Graham teachers earn master's degrees

By Mike Wilder / Times-News

Published: Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 03:07 PM.

The teachers did internships in addition to their instructional time.

Given how many problems assistant principals and principals tackle each day and how many decisions they have to make, the challenges of being graduate students probably helped prepare them for their future jobs, Long, Meeks and Moss said.

Communication with the university was sometimes lacking, the teachers said. They credited Barbara O’Neal, a professor in its master’s of school administration program, with helping resolve some problems.

Among technology Fields has already introduced to her students is the NOOK reader, which lets people read books in the form of files.

“They love it,” she said. “They can take them home.”

Fields believes the master’s in instructional technology program will keep growing as part of the emphasis on teaching students 21st-century skills.

GRAHAM — Four teachers at North Graham Elementary School know what it’s like to double as students while working demanding jobs as educators.

One even had a baby along the way.

In December, the four earned master’s degrees from North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro. They are Torie Fields, Leslie Long, Cliff Meeks and Monte’ Moss. Fields earned a degree in instructional technology, while the other three earned degrees in school administration. Fields is already using what she learned in her classroom, while the others plan to become administrators when they get matched with the right position.

Long and her husband, Matt, had their son, Grayson, in October.

“I finished all this while having him,” she said. “I really didn’t think I was going to be able to finish.”

She and the other teachers leaned on each other — as well as their families — during the high-stress process that began in the fall of 2010.

“I have children myself,” Meeks said, “so it was a family ordeal.”

The teachers started work toward their degrees in the fall of 2010. All of Fields’ instruction was online, while the others took classes at night. Some classes were taught at the local school system’s Ray Street facility in Graham as part of an agreement between the university and the system, while they traveled to A&T for other classes in order to complete degree requirements more quickly.

Teachers from other schools in the Alamance-Burlington system completed the master’s degree program in December, though with four, North Graham had the largest number of teachers to finish.

Three teachers at Altamahaw-Ossipee Elementary School — Carmen White, Ashley Barker and Crystal Turner — completed the instructional technology degree along with Fields.

Teachers completing the school administration degree include Jana Tasich at Western Alamance High School, Kimberly Poe at Hawfields Middle School and Scott Lewis at Grove Park Elementary School.

THE NORTH GRAHAM ELEMENTARYteachers hope the rigorous process has made them better educators.

“We had some ups and downs,’ Moss said. “But I think it made us better people in terms of going through adversity.”

The teachers did internships in addition to their instructional time.

Given how many problems assistant principals and principals tackle each day and how many decisions they have to make, the challenges of being graduate students probably helped prepare them for their future jobs, Long, Meeks and Moss said.

Communication with the university was sometimes lacking, the teachers said. They credited Barbara O’Neal, a professor in its master’s of school administration program, with helping resolve some problems.

Among technology Fields has already introduced to her students is the NOOK reader, which lets people read books in the form of files.

“They love it,” she said. “They can take them home.”

Fields believes the master’s in instructional technology program will keep growing as part of the emphasis on teaching students 21st-century skills.